I was born in a small rural village in south India where we get extremely hot and humid days throughout the year; though I have to agree we have very mild and pleasant winters. My passion towards natural world motivated me to opt for biological sciences during intermediate (class 11 & 12) and I went on to study Agriculture for my bachelor's degree. After graduating from Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University with a Masters degree majoring in Entomology, I worked few years for Tobacco Board, India. I moved to New Zealand in 2007 to pursue doctoral studies at Massey University.

Research interests

I am broadly interested in insect ecology with special interest on systematics, insect-plant associations, insect biodiversity and ecosystem function. I have previously worked on pest management in agriculture and I still maintain interests for environment-friendly insect pest control in primary production systems. Apart from these, I actively learn and practice webdesign and seek to refine skills in statsitical modelling.

My PhD programme is focused on the systematics and ecology of a genus of native leaf beetles. Commonly referred to as “bronze beetles” in New Zealand, Eucolaspis Sharp 1886 belongs to the sub-family Eumolpinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Like many other members of this sub-family, species of Eucolaspis are polyphagous herbivores. The beetles feed on many different tree and shrub species, including both New Zealand native plants and several economically important introduced fruit crops. In some instances Eucolaspis infestations of orchard crops such as apple (Rosaceae) result in severely distorted and un-exportable fruit. Potentially high return organic orchards systems appear to be especially susceptible. This has important evolutionary and management implications.

Species complexity: The genus Eucolaspis Sharp 1886 has poorly resolved species taxonomy, with imprecise descriptions. The initial descriptions of the 15 endemic species were mostly based on colour and size variation, and the details of descriptions were often not diagnostic. A later treatment inferred fewer species, but here too, characters and states used for diagnosis were often unstable. Unresolved taxonomy is an impediment to most aspects of biology and in this case also horticulture. The number of existing species and the particular species infesting apple orchards are often debated. We are using an integrative taxonomy approach based on morphological, molecular and ecological data, to unravel phylogenetic diversity of Eucolaspis. Extensive fresh sampling across New Zealand plus museum material are used for this study.

Life cycle and ecology: The ecological basis for Eucolaspis establishment in NZ organic apple orchards is studied using: